The Real Story Behind Jackie Kennedy's Iconic Pink Suit

"A newspaper reported that I spend $30,000 a year buying Paris clothes and that women hate me for it," Jackie Kennedy told the New York Times in September of 1960, adding "I couldn't spend that much unless I wore sable underwear."

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Still, the report caused a sensation. And the first lady needed to mollify the masses, who were less upset about how much cash she supposedly spent than where she spent it. It's the flip side of that Olympic-medal-winning kind of pride that happens when Michelle Obama wears Jason Wu: There's pushback when first ladies favor international fashion designers over domestic ones, and for Jackie, it wasn't gentle.

From that point on, all of Mrs. Kennedy's clothes were made stateside—including that iconic pink suit she wore on November 22, 1963. As one of the most identifiable outfits of the twentieth century, that cheery pink suit is also one of the most mysterious. Here, we demystify the iconic suit:

It wasn't Chanel. But it wasn't an Oleg Cassini-made knockoff either, like Karl Lagerfeld thought. Instead, it was an exact replica of a Chanel suit made from Chanel fabric sent from the Paris store, but sewn piece by piece in NYC. It was Jackie's clever way of having her cake and eating it too (or, say, buying a French croissant made in an American bakery).

Jackie had worn it six times before. Like Michelle Obama, Jackie was an outfit repeater, and the vibrant pink suit was one of her favorites.

She didn't choose it for her Texas trip, though. As Jackie's personal assistant, Providencia Paredes, told Today, she was actually the one who packed it, not Jackie. "Jack called and told me to pack something light because it's supposed to be warm over there," Paredes said.

Jackie wouldn't change out of it after JFK was shot. On the plane back east after JFK's assassination, Lady Bird Johnson suggested that the first lady, caked in bloodstains, might want to change her outfit."No, I want them to see what they have done to Jack," Jackie reportedly told her.

The suit's now in the National Archives. Bloodstains and all, the suit was donated by Jackie's mother in 1963. Most of the accessories came with it, except for the pillbox hat and white kid gloves, which were lost in the commotion of the day.

But no one can see it, at least not for a very long time. Caroline Kennedy signed a 2003 decree saying that no one would be able to see the suit for 100 years. The Kennedy family doesn't want to create a commotion by having it go on public display—and yet, we have to imagine that when it does eventually get its own exhibit, it'll still be a big deal, even if it is 90 years from now. Today may mark 50 years since JFK's assassination, but the speculation, attention and interest in every little detail of that day, even the pink suit, is strong as ever.